evo's £40,000 Fantasy Garage
How would you spend £40,000 on a three car Fantasy Garage? Find out ours here
Welcome to evo's ‘Fantasy Garage’ If I’m honest, the title is a bit misleading as all the cars featured are available to buy via Cars For Sale – the newest (and fastest) car search engine online, powered by evo.
Every month I’m setting an evo staffer a challenge to find a car, or cars, for a fixed budget. This month I’ve asked staff writer Stephen Dobie to find three cars – a classic (20 years old or more), a convertible and a hot hatch icon – for a strict £40,000 budget. And he’s not allowed to sneak his Renault Clio Williams in as the latter… His choices are interesting, with the money spread pretty evenly between the three cars. Let Stephen know how you think he should have spent the cash on the forum thread (details below). And it’s not all about buying, either – don’t forget you can sell your car using Cars for Sale, too! Now, over to Dobie… The hot hatch icon – Renault Clio 200 Cup (£12,795, 2010)'I know what you’re thinking. Is this really a hot hatch icon? Well, I ran a long-term 200 Cup for 12 months and loved every single one of the 25,000 miles I covered. It was superb on road and a star on track, while being practical and easy to live with. It also won every group test it competed in, save for eCoty 2009, where it still managed to beat an Aston, Lambo and Ferrari. Icon status guaranteed.'
The classic – Lancia Fulvia HF (£14,995, 1971)‘My absolute dream car is a Delta Integrale Evolution (preferably a Martini-striped Evo 2), but one of those would all but obliterate the measly budget the boss has given me. So this is my alternative, a horny little rally-prepped Fulvia HF from 1971 that’s right-hand drive, Recaro’d and roll-caged and boasts a wealth of recent mechanical work. A gorgeous little toy.’ The convertible – TVR Chimaera (£11,950, 1998)‘Any Dobie fantasy garage has to include a V8, and a rumbly TVR is surely the loudest and lairiest way to tick that box. There were numerous Griffiths and Tuscans on Cars for Sale for similar money, but I’ve always thought the Chimaera a bit cooler, and this 4.5-litre model has a very solid history and a classy metallic red paint/tan leather combo.’
On the forum We put the same challenge to our forum users, with an inevitable breadth of results. JonathanE poured most of his money into the classic, picking a gorgeous Maserati Merak SS at £24,995. The remaining cash was spent on a tip-top Peugeot 205 GTI at £5990 and an E36 BMW M3 cabrio at £6000. Pilouil edged £886 over budget but did manage to bag a Ferrari 308 GTB (alongside a £6K Renaultsport Clio 197 and a £950 Fiat Spider 2000), but Bezza achieved perhaps the best combination: a Porsche 964 Carrera 2 (£12,995), Renaultsport Mégane 250 Cup (£15,979) and Lotus Elise S1 (£10,495).
